What I’ve Been Reading Lately

Loved this book. It’s one where I have a hard time knowing how much to tell you, any description I give just doesn’t do it justice. It’s a sweet, well-told story of an unexpected friendship and parenting a child who is “different”. It’s about relationships and not taking others for granted. Definitely one of my top favorites of this year.

We have a tradition of giving tickets to a play as Christmas gifts to both my parents and my husband’s parents. We make it a big group activity with Jason and me, our big kids and both sets of grandparents attending all together. (It’s so fun!) The play for last Christmas was Peter and the Starcatcher and we decided to read the book as a family before we attended the play in March. As you can expect from Dave Barry, it was hilarious and delightful. We all really enjoyed this take on how Peter Pan came to be Peter Pan. (The play was pretty different from the book, but it was highly enjoyable as well)

I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand it was terrifying. It paints a very realistic-seeming picture of a world completely changed, in just one generation. On the other hand, it was a fascinating look at human nature and self-preservation. While I was in the middle of the story, I set it aside for a while and came back to it after a few weeks. I’m glad I did, and I especially liked the last chapter. It was the perfect way to wrap up this novel.

This memoir was absolutely engrossing. I finished it in less than two days and have found myself thinking about it often since then. It gave me deep insights into our extended family and their behavior, which has seemed so foreign and bizarre to me in the past. So, so interesting.

The subtitle of this book is The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit. When I saw this as a choice for Book of the Month Club, I didn’t even read the descriptions of the other books. I knew this was right up my alley. I took it on a camping trip to Southern California and it was perfect to read at the beach. My 12 year old daughter ran out of reading material halfway through the trip (horrors!) and stole this from me each time I set it down. She really enjoyed it as well.

I’m not sure how many times I’ve read this book, but it never disappoints. We listened to it on our drive home from California, and my kids loved it as well. Even our very busy 3 year old listened intently. A beautiful story, well told.

I read this aloud for part of our study of the middle ages. This book is about two brothers in middle ages Korea and their love of kite fighting and an unexpected friendship with their King. My kids begged for just one more chapter on multiple occasions. The mark of a good read aloud!

I read this for a little inspiration since I’m participating in The 100 Day Project again this year. (I’m going to stitch 100 embroidery hoops over the next 100 Days or so). It’s a bright, beautifully illustrated and inspiring book. Especially inspiring if you’re on the path of figuring out your creative life and the projects you want to pursue. I can see myself re-reading this every so often.

This is a fun middle-grade magical novel. I picked it up without knowing anything about it, and it was a fun read. Or rather, listen; I listened to the audiobook. Nothing life-changing, but entertaining and funny. Sometimes we all need books like that, right?

What have you been reading lately?
Head to Modern Mrs. Darcy for more quick book reviews.